1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the present invention relate to an image pickup apparatus including an image pickup device for capturing an image of a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
With regard to a digital camera (image pickup apparatus) for photographing an image of a subject with an image pickup element, single-lens reflex type one for which one lens can be interchanged with another one is also known.
However, in such a single-lens reflex digital camera, there is the possibility that a dust invading into the inside of a camera body during lens interchange, or grid and dust such as a metallic powder generated in a drive mechanism such as a reflex mirror adhere to an optical component or part such as an image pickup element or a lens.
Here, when the grid and dust adhere to the image pickup element or the like, an image of the grid and dust appears on a photographed image of a subject. In order to take the measures to cope with this problem, the techniques, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-184949, 2007-241171 and 2007-243651 are proposed.
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-184949, the floating grid and dust are negatively charged by a charging device disposed within a mirror box, and a dust correcting plate positively charged attracts the negatively charged grid and dust by the coulombic force, thereby suppressing the adhesion of the grid and dust to the optical component or part.
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-241171, an air flow is generated in front of an image pickup element by a piezoelectric pump, thereby suppressing the adhesion of the grid and dust to the optical component or part.
Also, according to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-243651, a white image is previously photographed to create a dust profile, and an image of the grid and dust appearing on the photographed image is removed by executing image processing based on the dust profile.